


companion swap

by silent_h



Series: tumblr prompts [4]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: AU, Companion Swap, Multi, i don't know what to tag this format as?, there's also other people & (minor) relationships but like i will be here all day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-08-13 04:43:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20168350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silent_h/pseuds/silent_h
Summary: iamdelta-s asked: Doctor Who asks: 3838. If you could switch companions and Doctors who would you pair up?





	1. ninth doctor

**Author's Note:**

> this au is getting ridiculously long and tumblr posts are like. not a great place for that yknow? i figured it would be easier to read on here?

the war ends and the doctor’s the lone survivor and he’s so alone and his memories seem a little fuzzy sometimes and he’s just so tired of life you know? he doesn’t really believe that he deserves to keep going but he also doesn’t believe that he’s allowed to do anything that isn’t helping people. he sort of drifts around time and space ending wars and saving people and trying to make up for what he did and make sure that no one will ever be forced into the same position that he was.

and then one a day a bride materialises in his tardis.

donna noble is freaked out and pissed off and embarrassed and nine’s maybe not the best person to sympathise with her but she kicks his arse into gear and they save the day together, snarking all the way, and like at this point he’s been alone for a _while_ because he didn’t think he deserved to have a companion anymore and donna’s like ‘??? that’s stupid?? you can save more people if you have someone to help you also what do you mean _companion_ i hope you’re not expecting any funny business mister because i WILL slap you’.

and god donna and nine have so much fun together okay?? like i know in canon it was rose’s youth and joy for life that helped nine to start to improve his depression and ptsd but like honestly donna just does not have the time for his self pity. like yeah she’s not gonna blame him for his mental health and she’s not gonna be an asshole unnecessarily but like

nine, in a huddled ball in his bed: i don’t deserve happiness,,,i only deserve to stay in this room and rot

donna, pulling back his curtains: rISE AND SHINE SUNSHINE WE’RE GONNA GO TO A ZOO AND WATCH PENGUINS FALL OVER UNTIL YOU FEEL LESS SHIT

nine: i don’t even have windows how did you do that

and they just! click! they’re such good best friends and they tease each other all the time and maybe they’re a lil unhealthily dependent but like who isn’t really! they have like an unspoken competition between them for who can the validate the other the most and they buy each other the worst looking clothes they can find and they kind of have a little prank war (the tardis is not meant to be taking sides but also she’s on donna’s side) and it’s just !!!!!!!

they still end up in utah in 2012 but this time instead of a distress signal being sent from a dalek it’s an automated signal being sent by an alien artefact that’s currently in the process of being stolen from van statten’s bunker. 

(don’t worry, the dalek’s still there though. fun times! the doctor has war flashbacks! donna sees how dark he can get for the first time! there’s a moment where nine almost thinks donna’s been killed by the dalek! but he just can’t believe it. there’s no force in the universe strong enough to take out donna noble)

so now instead of adam mitchell (who is _technically_ a companion ok) they run into a posh thief who’s very smart and smug andpissed off that they blew her cover. and, it turns out, very good at running and saving the day too.

nine: no

donna: i mean she saved our lives?? you could offer her at least one trip???

nine: _no_

lady christina de souza: too late i already nicked your keys

and she hangs around with them for a few eps and she kind of?? becomes a better person?? she hates it and the doctor kind of hates admitting it because criminal but she’s actually not that bad of a person?? she really does have morals she just like stealing things okay?? (the doctor does ask her once if she would want to go the future and see if they could help her control her kleptomania and she’s like no thanks i’m good).

they’re still travelling with christina when they end up in england in the midst of ww2 and run into a flirty time agent. or at least, that’s what she tells donna and christina she is. the charade only lasts until they join back up with the doctor because he’s met time agents before and professor river song most certainly is _not_ one.

what she _is_ is _irritating_ and she carries a _gun_ and she flirts with every single being she _sees_ and shut UP donna he doesn’t have a crush on her okay! he invites her to travel with them PURELY because she seems to know things about his future! he’s being a responsible time lord donna!

either way, she still turns the invite down. says that she’ll run into them again soon enough (spoilers!) and also that if christina doesn’t return her vortex manipulator then she WILL break her fingers

christina, watching river teleport away: i’m…in love

nine: y e a h

they meet (create???) jenny while those three are travelling together and donna and the doctor are together with the humans going through the secret tunnels while christina ends up with the hath and travels on the surface and they meet at the end

christina: i had it all under control tyvm

nine: you literally have radiation burns over like ¾ of your body

christina: maybe i wanted that to happen you don’t know me

and it’s _maybe_ even angstier than canon because nine is so much more confrontational and prickly than ten was and he and jenny do not get on well at _all_. the time war is so much fresher in nine’s memory and these people think that this little week long scuffle counts as a _war?_

(also. the generated people are a little _off_ by human standards perhaps but they were still _made_ for fighting and war and pain. born to fight and born to die and nine has all this ptsd and depression and guilt that these people aren’t even capable of feeling because they weren’t designed that way and god he’s just. he’s so tired)

but jenny’s hearts beat at the same rate that his do and she’s so bright eyed and curious and smart and she _adores_ running and she chooses to think instead of to fight and they still love each other because how could they not??

and then she dies.

<strike>of course she dies how could she live how could anyone close to him live he kills them all in the end doesn’t he</strike>

(ehh she’s fine. wakes up not long after they leave and hotwires a ship. sorry dad but she’s got a whole universe to see and she’s not going to waste time feeling sorry for herself)

christina leaves after that (though she claims it’s because she’s starting to get a little claustrophobic with the tardis) and she convinces the doctor to get her a vortex manipulator and sets off to <strike>steal shit</strike> have adventures across time and space

donna, watching her leave: do you ever get the feeling you’ve made a massive mistake

nine: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ she’s the universe’s problem now

they run into river again not long after christina leaves except she’s? never been to the 1940s?? but she still knows them?? what??? and it keeps happening too, they keep running into this mysterious woman and the trips aren’t always in order for her (or at least the doctor assumes, because river’s pretty cagey about when in her timestream she’s from). river never actually properly lives in the tardis but she’ll spend a night or two there if she’s injured or really tired and she drives the tardis better than he can and she kEEPS BREAKING IN

donna: oh hey doctor your wife’s here

nine: fOR THE LAST TIME SHE’S NOT MY oh hey professor song how are you

river: all the better now you’re here sweetie

donna, mouthing: w i f e

except then they _do_ get married??? nine’s in jail and donna and river team up to break him out and the only way to do that is to get the guards to let him leave the cell for a significant occasion. such as his wedding

nine, as river gets down on one knee: why and no and also why

donna: well no offence but i’d rather kill myself than marry you

nine: how is that not offensive

and donna’s the maid of honour/best man and absolutely falling over with laughter and she gives a very long speech about literally every embarrassing moment she’s ever seen the doctor have and nine and river end up dancing together and river dips him and he blushes and donna wolf whistles and he hates _everyone_ but then when they’re running back to the tardis river calls him _husband_ and kisses his cheek before teleporting off and oh. _oh_. okay then

nine: i…i think i like her??

donna: i LITERALLY just went to your wedding

nine: it was a fake wedding! it barely counts in most galaxies!

and then they get a message from the library.

(donna doesn’t really like to think about her fake life and her fake husband who was so nice and understanding and loving and her fake children who she loved so goddamn much. she loved and was loved so much and it never happened but also it _did_ and how can you miss something that never really existed??

although, mind you, the computer really made a mistake when it created her fake best friend. a tiny wide eyed dark haired girl who spoke really fast and wore tiny skirts?? where did it come up with _her??_)

and donna still gets ‘saved’ and river still sacrifices herself to get everyone out with a screwdriver he will apparently give her and the future version of him _knew_ that he’d be sending her back to a younger version of him who would fall in love for her and watch her die and he hates himself so much in that moment.

she dies and they both know that future him has always known where she would end up and she _still_ dies loving him.

_not one line_, she makes him promise, and he does (it isn’t until later that he realises that she’d slipped the ring that she fake married him with into his jacket pocket).

but then donna gets stuck in the system. she was the last one to get out, because of _course_ she was. even as memory saved to a harddrive she’s still so stubborn and self sacrificing. she’s half out and half in and river’s already gone and _she’s_ safe (for a relative meaning of the word) because she had his screwdriver but _donna _didn’t. her body’s out in the physical world but her mind’s only half there and it’s glitching and she’s in pain and it’s _his_ fault.

so he kind of maybe sorta links his brain with the mainframe to provide an extra push to her mind but he wasn’t expecting it to be that powerful and he’s exhausted from the whole day’s events and also river kind of knocked him out earlier and he just watched her die and he knows he doesn’t have the strength so.

so he regenerates. pushes the energy into pulling himself and donna fully out and it works!

sort of.


	2. ten: s1

****did you think i was gonna split up the dream team that is ten and donna???? **never**. except this donna’s got a lil extra now bc guess what! their dna and their brains kind of mixed a bit when they were re-materialising out of the library!!! and it’s almost like having another time lord with him again but instead of someone who sees him as an outcast and an outsider it’s _donna. _and also instead of the whole ‘are you guys married’ thing that they got a lot back before he regenerated they get a lot of ‘are you guys like twins or something???’

donna & ten, every time, through tears: y e a h

also also it’s like having the master and the rani back but without the murder and mind control and highly unethical experiments!

donna: is there anyone from your planet that wasn’t messed up

ten: doubtful!

and yeah maybe it’s a little weird bc instead of her northern grump she has this pretty boy with a posh accent who speaks very fast and has a ridiculous number of catch phrases but like. she’s basically sharing a mind with him. weird is relative right now.

it’s not that long after the doctor regenerated when wilf calls them back to earth bc he has a weird feeling about this atmos thing? ppl keep dying and no one seems to be talking about it and maybe it’s nothing but could they please take a look into it??

and of course it _is_ something! go wilf!!

ten, two days later: hey wilf since you kind of saved the world, all of time and space, fancy a trip?

donna: did you. did you just use your chat up line on my grandfather

ten: …..oh god i did didn’t i i didn’t mean it like that i _promise_ i would _never_ chat up your grandfather you have my word

wilf: hey so i’m still here

they take wilf on a few trips (which he _loves. _they chase dinosaurs on a spaceship and they chill out with the oods and they find a nice shopping planet so he can take souvenirs and by the end of it he’s missing home a little but he really did have fun) and he tells ten he can call him granddad since he’s basically donna’s brother now and ten maybe cries a bit whatever it’s cool.

the problem of course is that a human with a time lord brain is an impossible thing and they both know it. the whole season they’re both racing to find a solution that will let donna keep her memories without dying but they just?? can’t??? about ¾ of the way through they just kind of give up and there’s like this defeated energy between them as they try to make the most out of the last of their time together.

donna makes a bucket list

ten: number 1 on the list is _don’t die_

donna: you’re not helping

and they travel around crossing things off it and saving people and seeing things they’ve never seen before. they help ace mcshane take down a corrupt company and they babysit the brigadier’s five year old daughter and they spend way too long with past versions of river (who?? already knows this doctor’s face?? how????) and they rebuild k9 from scratch and they break christina out of jail a few times (she _loves_ the doctor’s new face btw) and they stargaze with wilf at least every couple of days and they just _live_.

they’re thinking about accepting an invitation to the orient express (in SPACE!!!) when donna’s mental functions start to fail.

and it plays out the same way with donna wanting him to just let her die and him refusing to allow that except they don’t actually speak about it because they’ve spent so long in each other’s heads that they both know how they’re going to react. so. it happens. she nearly dies and he wipes her mind to keep her alive and takes her back to her family and just. yeah.

he walks back to the tardis alone and is welcomed with donna’s sad face. because of _course_ she recorded a last message for him. tells him to make sure he’s not alone and to not blame himself _too much_ (but like. still a little because that was kinda a dick move ten) and to not take it out on the tardis or him or whoever his next companion ends up being and to like? maybe check in on her and her family from time to time please?

_and one last thing_, she says, something fierce and proud in her voice, _i love you spaceman. and i don’t regret a single second._

he cries alone against the tardis floor.

—

**!christmas special time!**

so ten just wants to be alone but also he really desperately doesn’t, so he picks trains at random and just rides them. hides himself in crowds of busy humans too preocupied with the holidays to notice him or talk to him or expect him to save them. except of _course_ one of those trains ends up being invaded?? by some kind of weird glowy thing?? and like he doesn’t want to help but also yeah. he really does. so he helps out and!! meets some new friends!!! yaz and ryan and graham and grace are so good and brave and donna would love them and they fight some new aliens and invite him to christmas tea at the sinclairs’ and oh it’s been so long okay since he’s _laughed_ and these people don’t mind whenever he goes quiet and introspective and yaz is so smart and curious and ryan is so determined and bright and graham reminds him of wilf without hurting and grace is so quick and brave and just !

he has so much fun for the first time in a long time and for a moment he can almost forget all the people he lost and—

and then grace dies.

he sticks around for the funeral bc it’s what donna would’ve done and there’s a moment where yaz is like _does this kind of thing happen every day for you_ and he knows the look in her and ryan’s eyes, knows they would probably come with him if he asked and he just can’t do that to anyone else ok?? so he leaves


	3. ten: s2 (part 1)

so clearly he can’t just wander around without attracting trouble but he also can’t hang around with normal people?? what he  _ really  _ needs are people who are trained for these sort of situations and who have specialist equipment and who will  _ listen _ to him and who need him so badly that they won’t kick his arse back out onto the street. so where’s the best place for that?? unit. so he hangs around unit for a bit.

osgood and him get on like a house on fire, and he  _ adores _ kate. she’s…undecided.

ten: will you like me better if i point out that i have many many pictures of me babysitting you as a small child that i haven't shown to all your coworkers or

kate: the fact that you felt the need to point that out is  _ why _ i don't like you but go off i guess

and yes maybe he keeps finding ways to disable their weapons and yes maybe kate’s like ten minutes away from shooting him at all times and yes maybe osgood is in a perpetual state of panic but you know what??? it’s not too bad. he’s  _ helping _ , and he has people actually trained to stop him if he goes too far.

(he doesn’t want to think about that, about being capable to go too far, but he’s trying to get better at recognising his own flaws and limits. he owes it to donna)

and then, a few months into this, unit get an alert from a little village called leadworth.

ten doesn't technically  _ need _ to go but he hasn’t really got anything to do in the lab at the moment and kate keeps hinting (well,,, more like flat out stating) that he should get more fresh air and sunlight so.

so there’s like this?? giant eyeball in the sky??? repeating over and over that the earth will be destroyed??? honestly WHAT a fun day! it’s just what he needed!!!! and he’s running around with osgood trying to coordinate unit scientists and interviewing residents and scanning everything in sight and then—

and then a furious young woman runs up to him, slaps him in the face, and then bursts into tears.

so that’s weird????? but also eh the planet’s about to be blown up so he focuses on that bit first. after the earth’s safe again and the bad guys have been chased off (and don’t think he doesn’t notice osgood filming his Big Damn Speech) he goes and tracks down the woman.

_ oh _ , she says, after she opens her front door.  _ time machine, right? _

her name is amy pond, and she’s clearly met him before. she won’t tell him when though, or what happened. she  _ does _ tell him, however, that he promised to take her with him when he came back. and yeah, she could be lying but like. he’s been in one place and time for so long by now, doesn’t he deserve a little break?

ten: i need 2 weeks vacation time

kate: don’t you still have like half a dozen unfinished experiments???

ten: what of it

so he takes amy on a few (and he is  _ very _ adamant that it will only be a few) trips and they?? have a lot of fun?? because she’s so brave and curious and stubborn and he’s very very  _ very  _ jealous of her hair and also he really likes her accent also she has really soft scarves?? he just. he likes her a lot.

they end up in a little viking village at one point, and yeah ten’s a little mellow but he’s still the goddamn time lord victorious underneath it all and when he’s faced with letting a person die or literally forcing them to be immortal??? yeah you know what he does. ashildr is very grateful about no longer being dead! that will definitely probably last!

so it’s all going good except then one time they nearly die (bloody weeping angels sending them back to 1969 smh) and she kisses him??? and he’s like  _ woah! i don’t like you like that and also i’m married except it was like a few decades ago and maybe fake so we didn’t really get to talk about monogamy  _ and amy maybe bursts into tears bc whoops! she’s due to get married tomorrow/the day after she left and she just nearly died and it made her realise that she’s terrified that she doesn’t deserve him and that their life will just be boring now and that one day he’ll realise what a mistake it is to go with her and—

ten: not to interrupt your panic attack but i’ve landed us at your fiance’s stag do let’s go say hi

and rory’s even more threatened by the doctor bc like uh ten vs eleven??? not to be mean but like yeah there’s no contest there. he’s pretty freaked out and hurt (which is valid!) but he’s also aware that they haven’t really talked a lot so instead of going on a trip the doctor parks them in the vortex so they won’t miss their wedding and they just? talk?? it’s nice. they wander back into the console room a few days later and ask if? the doctor would like to come to their wedding?

ten: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and they get married! ten eats a lot of wedding cake and dances with everyone! and after it’s over he assumes that now amy won’t want to travel with him anymore so he’s about to leave and amy’s like ???? uh where are you going????? i’m still travelling with you we’re just bringing rory now too???

ten: oh!

amy: also our best friend mels

ten: wait what

yeah so like amy’s learned her lesson from just up and leaving the people she loves so she told her best friend where she was going and said best friend demanded to come too.

amy, already showing mels to her room: the more the merrier right

ten: um

mels is,,,,,,a lot. like, a  _ lot _ a lot. and he really  _ does _ try to get on with her but she’s??? kind of mean??? and unnecessarily violent?? also she keeps nicking his sonic and not even in the yes i’m annoying but i’m also very charming way that christina did or in the technically this is half mine anyway way that river does???? also she’s  _ really _ smart but seems pretty insistent on hiding it and he doesn’t know  _ why _ .

the tardis seems to like her though, and she’s usually a good judge of character??? WHY she’d like someone whose first impulse is always violent, and who keeps trailing muddy footprints into the console room is something he doesn’t get, but he’s sure it’ll probably work out in the end.

mels: you never said he was hot

amy: yes i did???

mels: oh yeah i was thinking abt rory lmao

rory: hEY??

his relationship with rory is a lot smoother, even though rory isn't very subtle about his dislike for ten's methods sometimes (it doesn’t matter. ten doesn’t much like himself either). they both have a deep love for amy though, and they both find themselves trading worried glances every time mels looks like she’s about to start stabbing.

as much as ten does sometimes pick coordinates at random, he usually just lets the ponds tell him where to go.  _ his wedding gift _ , he likes to say, and no one points out that they’ve been married for like two months. it’s amy asking for vampires that lands them in venice (amy gets bit and mels only says  _ kinky _ four times) and rory asking about future medicine that sees them hiding from cat nurse nuns (ten’s never met cassandra before so it’ll be fun figuring out why she hates him so much huh ! she steals rory’s body, but amy punches her out of him it’s fine it works. also there’s a giant head in a jar i guess

the face of boe: you still owe me a vortex manipulator

mels: i’ve never met you before in my entire life

the face of boe: did i ask)

so yeah, it’s mostly the ponds who suggest destinations, but one day mels asks if like clones are a real thing???

ten: all of time and space, everything that could and will ever be, innumerable types of technological advancements,,,,,,and you want to see CLONES????

mels: ye

and like it’s the first time she’s ever asked to see something and she seems weirdly serious about it so,,,,,they go and investigate the flesh.

the ponds: why’d you just put your hand into the vat of the flesh?????

ten: it’s a surprise tool that will help us later

ten’s ganger is a little bit like his previous self and, for some reason ten doesn’t want to think about, a little bit like donna. he is  _ intensely _ jealous of amy’s hair, which is fair, because he gets on much better with her and mels than ten ever has??? he even manages to get rory to agree with him????

ten’s ganger: i think i might be more human than you maybe??? this definitely feels easier than it did when i was inside you???

ten:  **Don’t Say It Like That**

they swap places for a bit, and, for some reason, mels is the only one who notices?? she doesn’t say anything to the others, but she talks to ganger!ten more than she usually talks to ten. there’s something softer about the way she treats him, too. something almost guilty.

at the end he still stays back in order to let them all escape.  _ i think _ , mels says quietly, before they leave,  _ that if the original you was more like this, then there’d be less problems. _

so yeah! fun times!

after visiting the gangers though, something seems,,,,off. ten’s a little shaken up by seeing himself, yeah, but the girls seem weird too??? mels is being more secretive than usual, and almost  _ clingy _ refusing to go far from amy and rory. and before, where she mostly just ignored and mocked ten, now it’s almost like she??? hates him???? but he didn’t DO anything????

and then there’s amy. it takes him a while to realise, but she’s,,,distant. she keeps getting distracted, and drifting off halfway through conversations.

they’re in a planet wide traffic jam caused by giant crabs (rory: don’t like that) and amy gets  _ kidnapped _ because she’s so out of it that she doesn’t even realise????

so when they all get back together and they’re regrouping, amy finally admits to the others that she’s started losing time. she’s blacking out and hallucinating, and she just feels  _ wrong _ .

luckily there’s a cat nurse nun there to run scans on her huh! also giant space head in a jar i guess.

and whoops! guess who’s not human! yeah so. turns out SOMEONE got replaced by a ganger. but how???? mels was with amy the whole time?????

everyone turns to look at mels who’s like  _ whoops _ and then she presses a button on her watch that?? dissolves ganger!amy??????

everyone: ??????

mels: i really did love travelling with you guys. even you, doctor. even knowing what you are, and what you will do. i still loved it

ten: ?????????

mels: but i have to go now

she turns and grins at rory.  _ see you later, dad, _ she says, before dematerialising.

ten & rory:

ten & rory:

ten & rory: what the actual fuck

the face of boe: okay so yall seem like you’re busy i’m gonna go now bye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah this ended up being split in parts; if moffat can do it so can i send tweet


End file.
